The Veteran's TBI and migraine headaches have been rated at the lowest available level (10%) throughout the appeal period, as there is no evidence of more than mild impairment in any facet for TBI or characteristic prostrating attacks for migraines.
The deciding factor: The VA examiners found that the Veteran did not meet the criteria for a higher rating under the applicable diagnostic codes due to lack of objective evidence supporting greater than Level 1 impairment in cognitive facets and insufficient frequency or severity of prostrating attacks for migraines.
- Claimed conditions
- cognitive residuals of traumatic brain injury, migraine headaches
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- February 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19111164
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,421 · Granted: 31% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 19111164.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the cases for additional development due to incomplete medical records and insufficient opinions regarding the relationship between service, including a stick injury in England, and current left eye disability (including amblyopia and cataracts) as well as migraine headaches.
- Granted
The Veteran's migraine headaches are productive of very frequent, completely prostrating and prolonged attacks capable of producing severe economic inadaptability. The Board has granted a 50 percent disability rating for the Veteran's service-connected migraine headaches.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for a higher rating for his service-connected migraine headaches was granted with an effective date of February 28, 2023.
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